MEN'S GOLF COMPETES AT ECAC CHAMPIONSHIP

BERNARDSTON, Mass. – Taking a nine-stroke lead into the final round, Trinity College captured the 2014 ECAC Division III New England Men's Golf Championship Sunday afternoon at the Crumpin-Fox Golf Club in Bernardston, Mass. Finishing with a combined score of 622, the Bantams defeated 21 other teams to claim their third ECAC crown. The Emmanuel College squad finished 95 strokes behind Trinity, combining for a 717 to finish 19th in the field of 22 schools.

Led by senior co-captain Greg Palmer (Cheshire, Conn.), Trinity finished 13 strokes ahead of runner-up, Williams College. Palmer carded a second round 77 to finish with a combined score of 152 and claim second-place overall.  The Bantams also received top-ten finishes from freshman Nate Choukas (Hanover, N.H.) and junior Jeff Durkin (Scituate, Mass.). Choukas claimed sixth place with a combined 156, while Durkin, the Bantams' low-scorer from Saturday, finish tied for seventh with a 157. Seniors Nick Buenaventura (Weston, Mass.) and William Burchill (East Walpole, Mass.) rounded out the Trinity attack, finishing 11^th and 25^th respectively.  

Williams' Grant Raffel (Palo Alto, Calif.) earned individual medalist honors after scoring a two-day low of 151. Raffel tied Kevin Wheeler (Agawam, Mass.) of Nichols College for the lowest score of the day on Sunday, posting a three-over 75. Sophomore Ross Hoffman (Great Neck, N.Y.), the leader after day one, tied for fourth place, following a second-day 83. Senior Jake Goldenring (Florham Park, N.J.) tied the second lowest score of the day, finishing a stroke behind Raffel on Sunday and tied for 22nd overall (163).

Behind the consistent play of freshman Tyler Hemingway (Fairhaven, Mass.), UMass-Dartmouth claimed third place with a combined score of 648. Hemingway followed up a first-round 80 with a final-round 79 to finish tied for 12^th overall. The shot of the day also came from the Corsairs, when sophomore Mike Byron (Bourne, Mass.) knocked in a hole-in-one on the 11th hole.

Middlebury College, the 2013 ECAC Champion, took home fourth place after posting a combined score of 651. Sophomore Eduardo Ramos (Sao Paulo, Brazil) carded a two-day 159 to lead the Panthers.

Salem State College and Endicott College rounded out the top five, each recording a combined score of 657. 

Leading the way for the Saints was senior Brett Burmann (Bridgewater, Conn.) who finished with a two-day total of 167, firing an 83 in round one followed by an 84 in round two to place tied for 34th overall in the field of 109 golfers.

Emmanuel returns to action next weekend in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference championship to be played at Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton, Mass.